Flower Shop Blues
by Adwen
Summary: Tsuna wasn't sure about a lot of things, how could he? He had amnesia. But there were three things he was certain about: 1. Nanimori was weird, plain and simple. 2. He owned and worked at a flower shop. 3. He loved his job, strange as it could be at times —even if it was a bit lonely. AU
1. Flower Shop Blues

Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. It is the property of Akira Amano, and is not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only. This story is based on an idea by Kyogre on.

AUTHOR NOTE: The italic conversations are meetings over the years between Tsuna and Doctor Shammal where Shammal monitors Tsuna's condition to see if any of his memories return or if more disappear. The last one is a conversation that happened directly after Tsuna gave up his memories where it's "explained" why the guardians didn't approach him. Also Ericas are also flowers. Search up Erica flowers if you don't belive me.

* * *

><p>"<em>I'll call it Millefiore Flower Shop."<em>

"What_?!" _

"_Are you Okay?!"_

"_Yes, yes, I'm fine, but why Millefirore?"_

"_Well…I don't know, it just felt...funny I guess…"_

"_Funny?"_

"_Like I was playing a joke on someone…"_

"…_I see."_

* * *

><p>Tsuna hummed as he watered his plants that morning before opening his store. And wasn't that nice, <em>his<em> store (he still hadn't gotten over the giddy feeling seven months in); a large step for someone who ended up with amnesia right after high school, if he did say so himself.

Having finished with the plants for sale, he turned to the two plants he kept behind his counter. Neither of the two was up for sale and either way there were more of each species in the shop if someone wanted to buy one, though in his opinion none of the other flowers were as pretty as those—but he was biased so it didn't really count. He had decided to place them there on a whim, but each of them made the store feel nice and full—complete— so he decided to keep them.

First he gave water to the red zinnia on the left, then the blue jasmine next to it, before stepping back and surveying his work. He frowned, was it just him or did the flowers look lonely? It was probably him, but he felt like they needed a new friend.

He turned towards the plants for sale and began looking around for that one plant that called to him, just like he had done for the last two. He found it in one of the newer plants, an anemone. He carried the yellow plant to the counter but when he was going to place it with the other two flowers he realized there wasn't any space left.

He put the plant on the counter and contemplated the issue. Three minutes later, he returned from storage with one of the spare replacement shelves, a tool kit and a determined 'let's do this' face.

* * *

><p>"<em>So how's the store?"<em>

"_It's doing fine Doctor Shamal, thank you for asking."_

"_That's good to hear."_

"_Yep, though something weird happened last Tuesday and today."_

"_Oh? What happened?"_

"_Some people came in and asked me to make a funeral arrangement, but they gave me the addresses of people who are still alive!"_

"_Funeral arrangements for living people?"_

"_Yeah, it's so weird, and the people always look so pale when they see the flowers, I wonder why someone would send funeral arrangements to another person, maybe it's a prank?"_

"…_Yes, a prank."_

* * *

><p>A kid wearing a suit and a fedora with an orange ribbon came through the door. Tsuna saw beetle black eyes peeking from underneath the hat. He felt familiar. Oh right! The kid had come in last year and bought a bouquet of flowers. He remembered him because he had worn those same clothes. Why was he wearing that anyway?<p>

"Hello. Welcome to Millefiore Flower Shop, how may I help you?" He asked him.

"I'll take a bouquet," said the kid.

"The same as last year?" Tsuna asked before he could stop himself, cheeks coloring red as the sharpness in the black eyes that had been looking him over intensified.

"You remember me?" the little kid demanded (what was his name anyway?).

"Umm, yes, you came in last year and bought a bouquet," Tsuna's face was probably tomato red now, "I remember you because of your clothes."

"Ah I see," the kid said and Tsuna didn't feel like he was looking at a little kid that couldn't be older than seven, he felt like he was facing an adult when he looked into those too-smart eyes. "It's my birthday today, and I had previously decided to start a tradition and buy myself a bouquet every year."

"Oh! Happy Birthday! Here let me get the flowers ready for you."

The strange kid followed him as he got the flowers and made the bouquet, and once he finished making it he asked, "How are you anyway?"

"Huh?" was Tsuna's response, but the kid only looked at him expectantly so he answered, "I'm fine thank you?" And the kid just nodded before asking if he had any problems, face still serious and waiting. "No" was the answer to that and the kid gave a small satisfied smile, paid for his flowers and sauntered out of the shop. This felt familiar too. Did that mean it had also happened before?

Tsuna felt confused and off-balance and he turned to the plants behind him and asked, "Do you know what just happened?" They didn't answer but Tsuna didn't expect them to and said instead, "Yeah, me neither."

* * *

><p>"<em>I'm thinking of getting a part-time employee <em>to help around the shop<em>."_

"_Really?"_

"_Yes, not at the moment but maybe later."_

"_So business is going well?"_

"_It is, it's why I'm thinking of getting help. It's only that…"_

"_Yes?"_

"_I went to other places where there are part-time employees to see what it's like and some of them are so weird! One of them for example, is a smoker but since he can't smoke inside the store he's constantly biting a piece of wood!"_

"…_That is weird I suppose."_

"_I know! Who bites wood anyway, it's so unsanitary!"_

* * *

><p>"Where would you like me to place these?" Tsuna asked the woman, M-something, who was instructed to help him by one of the planners.<p>

"On the side of that table over there, and put the last flowers across from it," she said, all narrow-eyed and critical as she surveyed the wedding hall. But it was understandable; the wedding was going to begin in 20 minutes, everybody was bound to be nervous. After giving everything a triple check and ordering him to move several of the flower arrangements (most of them color yellow or orange) she finally deemed the hall ready and called the nearest planner, Haru he thought was her name, over.

"What do you think?" asked the lady. Haru glanced at her but didn't even acknowledge Tsuna's presence (something he was mildly insulted over) before looking over the hall with even more intensity than the woman beside her and nodding.

"It looks fine," she said and the lady gave a pleased smile.

"Well, I guess that's that. I hope the wedding goes well, please give my well wishes to the couple," he told them and made to leave but was stopped by a hand on his arm. He turned and saw that it was the Haru woman who stopped him and was now looking at him with unreadable eyes.

"Why don't you—why don't you stay, as thanks for bringing the beautiful flowers," she said, looking somewhat determined but still mostly unreadable.

"What? No it's ok, you don't need to—"

"I insist. The wedding's about to start anyway and there's plenty of cake to go around."

"But won't the groom and bride—"

"They won't mind! They'll be happy even, so please just stay for a while," she exclaimed, looking just as determined as before but her eyes were pleading now and looked sad as well so Tsuna said "OK" before he realized. He thought it was worth staying for the wedding of total strangers if it meant that strange (and wrong, so wrong) look on the woman's face disappeared. The smile he got in return was appreciated, if weird. So he stayed for the wedding while wearing dirt stained work clothes and feeling like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die when all the people in fancy dresses— the real guests— came in. Why had he agreed again?

Twenty minutes later a black hair woman walked down the aisle in a beautiful yellow-trimmed white dress and locked her hand into the arm of a white-haired man with a bandage on his nose. After finishing his vows, the white-haired man loudly declared that he "EXTREMELY" loved his wife even more than boxing, which strangely enough got a smile from his bride and "aww's" from the guests. Tsuna just felt even more out of place.

He never noticed the empty seat in the place of honor.

* * *

><p>"<em>You know, people in this town are weird."<em>

"_Weird? Weird how?"_

"_Just weird. I don't remember this town being weird. Did it seriously change this much in a decade?"_

"_Not yet a decade, it's still over a year before you turn 23."_

"_It's close enough."_

* * *

><p>A lady in a business suit talking on the phone walked into the store. She hung up the phone after an irritated growl of "Yes, I can't believe him either. I'm already here, we'll talk later. Bye." And he was pinned with annoyed yet curious narrow eyes that made him want to cringe reflexively.<p>

"Hello. Welcome to Millefiore Flower Shop, how may I help you?" Just smile Tsuna, smile and ignore the feeling of being dissected.

The woman was silent for a moment before she asked, "Do you have Shion flowers?"

Shion flowers, the flowers which meant remembrance in hanakotoba.

"Yes I do, how many would you like?"

"One bunch, please."

"Alright, wait a moment please." Tsuna walked though the rows of plants towards the shion flowers and began gathering several, all while trying to ignore the eyes he could feel on his back.

"Here you go, that will be ¥1750."

The woman took out her wallet and began counting money but kept scrutinizing him.

"I'm sorry M'am, is there something on my face?"

"No there isn't anything on your face but…Do you know Gokudera Hayato?"

"…That famous pianist?"

"Yes."

"I know of him, why?"

"I'm his manager, tomorrow is the anniversary of the death of one of his friends and he was going to buy flowers but fell sick so he asked me to buy them in his place. Then he told me that he would only buy flowers from this specific shop and that if he was going to get flowers for his friend it would be from here and nowhere else, why?"

"Umm, I don't know. I don't think I've ever met him."

She stared at him before nodding and leaving but he got the feeling that she didn't believe him.

Tsuna looked at the door with his face still scrunched in confusion. Even though his shop had been open for almost two years he thought that he would remember if someone like Gokudera Hayato came into his store. How did Gokudera even know him anyway? This situation was crazy. Then he processed all that. A celebrity knew him! He thought he might faint. Though whether the dizzy feeling came from happiness or shock he didn't know. Forget situation, this entire town was crazy and now he was infected as well!

* * *

><p>"<em>So how have you been these last three months Tsuna?"<em>

"_Fine, but it's weird not talking to you every month."_

"_Well, you've been doing great even if your memories haven't returned. Eventually we'll meet only every six months before not meeting at all."_

"_Hmm, well that's still a long ways off."_

"_It is, so tell me, has something interesting happened?"_

"_Well…"_

* * *

><p>Tsuna blinked at the letter he got from his mailbox this morning. Blink. Still there. "COGRATULATINS SAWADA TSUNAYOSHI," it said in bright mocking bold letters, "You have won Baseball Monthly's special lottery! Your prize is one ticket to the opening Baseball Game in Kyoto for this baseball season on June 3rd! We have included your ticked in the envelope. For further information…" Tsuna stopped reading at that and turned his eyes on to said ticket which lay innocently on the table.<p>

He might have been jumping for joy if he actually remembered joining the lottery, or even reading Baseball Monthly for that matter. But he was quite sure that he had done neither. He thought that it was a prank but then he searched up the game schedule and even called the number that it showed in the envelope. So it wasn't a prank. Then he thought it had been delivered to the wrong person for all of three seconds but both the person on the other side of the phone and the letter clearly said that a "Sawada Tsunayoshi" had won the lottery. So either another person with the same name as him won and it was sent to him instead, he had entered the contest and simply didn't remember, or he had a stalker who created incredibly elaborate pranks.

All three were either unsettling or strange and Tsuna didn't know what to think about this situation so he put the letter and ticket back in the envelope and left for his shop. It was time to open up anyway and he never liked spending a lot of time in that lonely house. Still, why did it sometimes feel like everybody was playing a universal joke that only Tsuna didn't know the punch-line to?

* * *

><p>"<em>So you won a lottery which you don't remember entering?" <em>

"_Yes. Do you think I can't remember it because of my amnesia?"_

"_Maybe. I'll do some tests later. So how was the game?"_

"_It was very fun. One player from the winning team, I think his name was Yamamoto, was really incredible."_

"_He was?"_

"_Definitely. You should have seen him swing that bat, it was super-fast."_

* * *

><p>The shop was broken into. Widows destroyed and pots and plants scattered over the floor. Many things were missing and the cash register was smashed against the ground. Tsuna didn't even bother looking for the money. He was only grateful that his plants, the ones on a shelf behind his counter, were still there, the erica and freesia that he had added standing proudly, as if saying that a break in could never hurt them.<p>

He sighed and grabbed his tools, a broom, and several pots and plastic bags and dropped resigned to the ground and started trying to salvage what he could. Two hours later, one of the members of the Disciplinary Committee that patrolled his street everyday stopped and inspected his shop. Tsuna looked towards him and his bizarre hairstyle as the man finished scanning the shop and faced him.

"Don't worry, we'll clear this up," he said, and Tsuna really should have paid more attention to those words.

The next morning all the members of the gang that had apparently broken into his shop were tied up in front of the store in a neat line—all of them beaten and bruised—along with several bags of money and items which he recognized as what was stolen. Once they saw him they took one frightened side-eye glance to their right and bowed dogeza to him—as much as their states allowed them to anyway.

"We deeply apologize, please take back what we took from you," they all exclaimed in union with pain and fear filled voices. It sounded rehearsed and Tsuna could only stare dumbly at them before turning to the right. He saw a dark-haired, grey eyed man in a suit. He would recognize him anywhere: Hibari Kyoya, the leader of the Disciplinary Committee, punisher of all 'herbivores' that broke the rules and Nanimoris' unofficial tyrant. As he kept staring Hibari locked gazes with him for a moment before turning and walking away.

Several other men from the Disciplinary Committee that were standing around came and picked up the beat up men (who gave a pitiful whimper) and dragged them away. Tsuna was still too shocked to do anything but stare uncomprehendingly.

Three minutes later he was still staring at the corner at which the men just turned before returning his gaze to the items on the floor, which now that he noticed, were a lot more than what had been stolen.

"Hieeeeeeee! What just happened?!"

* * *

><p>"<em>Someone broke into my store last month."<em>

"_I'm sorry to hear that."_

"_Don't be, they were caught and I was repaid."_

"_That's good."_

"_Yeah, Hibari-San's committee caught them…It was nice."_

"_Nice?"_

"_Yeah, I don't really know why but it's nice, you know, to have someone look out for you. I just wish I could say thanks."_

* * *

><p>"You know, you're missing orange," said the middle-aged woman paying in front of the counter.<p>

Tsuna blinked. "What?"

"Orange, you know, to complete the rainbow, even if it isn't in the correct order and you added another blue and two purple flowers," she gestured behind him to the shelf where the flowers were placed. And yes, he could see that the color of the petals were the same as the rainbow now that he added two final flowers (a hydrangea and a pansy) but—

"It isn't a rainbow," he told her with a slight smile that felt more like a grimace, "and they aren't missing orange either."

"Uh-hum," she said giving him a rather unimpressed look, before putting her wallet away, grabbing her bag of fertilizer, and walking to the door, "if you say so."

Tsuna watched her leave the store before turning to said flowers. He thought they looked sad, or offended, or maybe it was just he who felt like that. Maybe he was the one that was angry that someone would want to change something that felt so nice. It hadn't felt nice before, always a strange feeling of the store being too quiet and empty before he added all the flowers and now that it was better she wanted him to change it?

"Don't worry, you guys are just as pretty as a rainbow, and what does she know about interior plant placement anyway?" he said to them before catching himself and giving a sigh. 'Way to go Tsuna, you're so pathetic that you constantly talk to plants' he thought uncharitably before giving the plants a considering look.

"You guys will always be here, right? Of course you will, you're plants, stupid question," he said, muttering the last part to himself. Still, the thought helped take away some of that horrible loneliness that he sometimes felt.

"Thank you for being here," he told the plants who just sat there unmoving.

* * *

><p>"<em>Well, that's it for today. You've done great these past few years Tsuna."<em>

"_Thanks Doctor Shamal."_

"_I've known you for almost a decade, call me Shamal."_

"_Er…Ok."_

* * *

><p>The store smelled like lotus blossoms today. A rich, sweet, floral scent and a warm, misty feeling were covering every corner of the shop. It wasn't the first time it happened, and his customers constantly complemented the scent when they came in on those days. They said things like, "Oh, is that smell natural? What plant is it?" and, "What a wonderful smell." But Tsuna didn't have lotus blossoms in his store this week so he couldn't ignore the feeling like he had before.<p>

It wasn't bad exactly, just strange. Especially when he heard a woman humming softly, always too far away for him to hear what she hummed. Or the other times when he would hear the flap of a large bird's wings right before this strange phenomena began and an even stranger laughter whenever he tripped on something. Weirdly enough, nothing ever broke on those days, even if it fell.

So it wasn't bad, just strange, since he always felt like he wasn't alone even when he was the only person in the store (he would know—he had searched for others) and he could deal with strange. Nanimori practically breathed weirdness, even if it took him a while to realize it. At least his life would never be boring.

The woman was humming again. A soft musical sound flowing rhythmically through the air and Tsuna almost knew it. He was humming along for a few notes when the woman stopped suddenly. Silence hung in the air and Tsuna tried to ignore his disappointment. Even imaginary people who only hummed didn't like him butting in on their activities, how sad.

* * *

><p>"<em>I think I've grown used to Nanimori's weirdness."<em>

"_Have you?"_

"_Yep. The trick is to ignore it so that you don't lose your brain cells trying to figure out why I found a meter tall turtle in my bath two months ago—I swear that thing just kept growing before a blond man in leather and all those guys in suits took it."_

"_Well, that's one way to deal with it—wait, a growing turtle in your bath?"_

"_Yeah, I think I might have hallucinated that, do you think Nanimoris' infected me with craziness?"_

"_You're perfectly sane Tsuna, maybe the only sane person around here."_

"_Oh…that's nice…I guess."_

* * *

><p>"Bye mom. Love you too." Tsuna looked at the phone which was now displaying the amount of time he had spent talking to his mom—a little over six minutes. He sighed, 'Come on Tsuna,' he thought, 'at least she called this year.'<p>

He loved his mom, she was the one who had single-handedly raised him, his only parent—as far as he was concerned that blonde man (who he didn't remember seeing before) who insisted Tsuna call him Papa was simply a sperm donor, he never had a father growing up and now he needed one even less —but she could be forgetful on a good day and now that he had adjusted to life once again—those few first months after his accident she had hovered with all the intensity of a mother lion, it had shocked him really— she was far away in lala-land. She called every two months but it was a gamble if she remembered what day it was his birthday and called on it.

Usually he would be happy but today hadn't been a good day. He didn't even know why. The shop was closed and he had the day off; yesterday that weird kid (he still hadn't gotten his name and it had almost been a decade since he first saw him, was Tsuna really that forgetful?) that came every year had asked all those weird questions again (Are you fine? Do you have any problems?) before leaving and two weeks ago he had gone to a baseball game using a ticket he won in a lottery (that he didn't remember entering—again). It was all strange but not bad, but somehow he fell…down.

Lunch he decided. That would help him! He would go get something to eat and it was just past noon anyway, it helped that he was near the town square, only a few more blocks and food would chase his problems away.

Tsuna cursed, it was just past noon and rush hour was in its peak. He wove through the crowd, desperately trying to find a restaurant where the line wasn't too long and having little luck. Fifteen minutes later he had emerged on the other side after being pushed out and straight into a ramen shop where a customer was just leaving his chair; very weird but Tsuna's stomach was grumbling and he wasn't about to kick a horse in the mouth so he quickly sat down on the vacated chair—it was still uncomfortably warm. The chef came and quickly took his order and then disappeared through a door in the shop.

The man sitting next to him turned to look at him, saw his harried expression, made a double take, and then chuckled, "Having trouble finding a place to eat?"

"What? Oh—yes, lots of trouble."

"Hmm, well there are lots of hungry people out in the crowd. Hunger makes humans vicious."

"Vicious doesn't describe it, I almost got mauled."

The man, who Tsuna noticed had strange white hair now that he turned to face him, threw his head back and laughed but stopped one second before a shocked whisper of "_Gege_" was heard behind them. Tsuna twisted in his seat to look behind him and saw a black-haired girl with braided hair, around 16 or 17 years old, dressed in a white outfit with the logo of this shop on it—so she worked here.

"Ah I'm sorry," he said because she was staring at him with a pale face, the white-haired man observing things with a serious look, and Tsuna knew—just like how he knew that neko meant cat and sora sky; apparently memories and languages aren't stored in the same place— that gege meant brother in...Chinese, but he was quite sure, "have we met before?" that they had never met.

She paled even further and looked close to tears now but shook her head and whispered, "Ah—no, no, you just—just look like my brother…"

"Oh," said Tsuna, because what else could he say? It was obvious by the look on her face that her brother was dead and now he felt plain awkward. What a brilliant birthday. He woke feeling awful and then his face almost made a teenager cry. His frustration with himself and the thick silence in the air were both cut when the chef came out of the back with his order, placed it on the table and called for the girl, I-pin apparently, to come to the back and help him. She practically flew through the door, the relief on her face palpable.

The thick silence returned and Tsuna ate as fast as he could, paid just as quickly, and fled the store. Someone immediately took his place but he could feel two pairs of eyes on his back and the last thing he heard was I-pin whisper furiously, "I hate you" to someone and the white-haired man reply, "you can go see him anytime you want. Hate yourself," before he was in the mercy of the crowd once again.

20 minutes later, when he finally emerged from the sea of limbs and shouts he decided to take the long way back home. He walked slowly, observing the passing groups of people going about their business: some were shopping, others going to the restaurant square, couples walking leisurely hand in hand, people in the park on picnic tables and mats, a boy and several children, all similar in appearance, playing tag underneath the sun. It reminded him of the girl, did she play tag with her brother before? Did she have other siblings as well?

He shook his head when he realized that he had stopped walking and turned his eyes to the sky. Was the sky lonely too? There wasn't a cloud in sight and the orange hues that were beginning to show (when did it get so late?) seemed almost mournful. But no, the sky wasn't alone. There was a group of birds flying over to the south, the wind blew in his hair as if to say "don't forget about me," and somewhere there were clouds, out of sight but never leaving the sky alone. And even if none of those existed there was still the sun. Shining brightly every day, and when it went down the moon took its place. The sky was never alone. Tsuna shut his eyes and continued walking home, as if by turning off his sight of the world the stinging in his eyes would disappear.

Tsuna wanted to be like the sky.

* * *

><p>"<em>I believe we've finally finished most of your appointments."<em>

"_We have?"_

"_Yes. Actually, your therapy period was longer than most, but you've shown no ill side effects even if your memory didn't return so this decade long observation period is about to end."_

"_..I see."_

"_I'll see you in one year for your last meeting Tsuna."_

"…_Yeah…See you in a year Shamal…"_

* * *

><p>Something was missing. It wasn't anything in the store—he already checked. No, something just felt off. Out of place and out of reach and he didn't have any idea <em>what<em>. So he sat down behind the counter and hoped to distract himself with work, but today was slow and only one had person come in.

Tsuna leaned back in his chair and stared from a bent neck at the shelf with flowers. Then he sat properly and twisted his chair to look at them comfortably. Maybe they were the problem; maybe they didn't feel 'nice' and 'complete' anymore. He didn't know if that was it since the weird feeling didn't change with the thought but the idea had merit. But what would he do to make the flowers complete again?

He searched his brain for one or two moments but came out blank. It was all he could do not to scream out in frustration, but that wouldn't help so he took several deep breaths and cast his eyes around for something, anything, to make the horrible feeling in his chest disappear.

His epiphany came when he saw an Orange Lily on a shelf. Hadn't someone once told him that he was missing orange? He didn't know if that was it but at least it was an idea.

He stood and walked toward the lily. It was certainly pretty, but it didn't feel…right. He wasn't thinking about revenge or hatred. So he turned and walked down the aisle searching for the orange flowers. There was a Tiger Lily almost next to it but wealth didn't fit in either.

Zinnias, Honeysuckles, and Freesia flowers didn't fit. Neither did Orange Roses or Ranunculus flowers. He looked around some more and managed to find himself back where he started. Shoulders hunched and feeling defeated he gave one last, desperate look around him and his breath caught when he saw one plant that he had ignored before: a Spider lily; death, parting and never meeting again. The flower of the afterlife.

He picked it up before he realized he had moved and looked at it uncertainly. Then he went around the counter and hesitantly placed it right next to the purple flower and waited. It didn't help at all. The horrible feeling was still there. And now staring at the flowers on the shelf—now it just felt as it something had twisted and crumbled into a ball. Died like what the flower he thought would help represented.

The sound of the door opening had him turning around automatically. He gazed blankly at the child that just came in. A black suit, curly side burns, and beetle black eyes topped by a black fedora with an orange ribbon were looking at him. Looking at him with worry, panic, and another unidentifiable emotion (which looked suspiciously like 'I wonder who I have to kill for doing this' and he didn't even want to think about how he identified that emotion, especially not in a _kid_ whom he didn't know).

"Are you alright? No don't answer, of course you aren't alright," said the kid in a panicked voice, and Tsuna idly wondered what he was doing here, the kid only came on his birthday which— Was it already October 13? That meant it was _his_ birthday tomorrow, and wow what an awful way to feel worse. And then the question registered and he instead wondered what the kid meant when he felt something on his chin.

Oh, so that was what the kid meant. He was crying. Tsuna opened his mouth to say something but instead let out a breath that was more like a sob. The kid looked even more worried now and Tsuna was so uncomfortable and humiliated. Here he was, crying for no reason in front of a stranger who (_why? Why did he always look so concerned about him? They didn't even know each other!_) was a kid to boot! So he half turned around and caught side of his flowers sitting innocently on the shelf, unaware and unconcerned with the troubles of humans.

Tsuna just started crying harder.

* * *

><p>"<em>Shamal! Is he O.K.? Do you know why—"<em>

"_Calm down brat. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Tsuna is mostly healthy—"_

"Mostly_?!"_

"—_the bad news is that he lost around 80% of his memories."_

"_What?!" "Oh No." "Boss!" _

"_Does this—does this mean that Tsuna really…"_

_*sigh*"Sorry kids."_

"_But then why did he react so…"_

"_Strongly?"_

"_Yeah…"_

"_Your appearance caused him flashbacks of different things, the most prominent of which were apparently: explosions, gunshots, and yelling. It caused him to freak out. You know that he had to give up his memories of his friends, you, since they were his most precious memories, but it doesn't change the fact that some of the things associated with you weren't stored in those specific memory neurons."_

"_And now that he doesn't have any 'good' memories of whom they are he associates those sounds that they bring along with 'bad' thing thus turning the very sight of them 'bad', correct?"_

"_Correct Reborn."_

"_Oi wait! What does that mean anyway?!"_

_"It means, you dumb cow, that when Tsunayoshi saw us he subconsciously—"_

_"What does subconsciously mean?"_

_"—it means he didn't think when he did it now don't interrupt— thought about things that his brain classified as "bad" so now that he doesn't have a…let's say shield, against that, our appearance causes him to think of bad things."_

"_Oh…"_

"_So does this mean that we—we _scare_ Bossu?"_

"_Not necessarily, but somewhat. Don't worry, you can still visit him and recreate those friendships."_

"_No we can't, that Kawahira asshole told us that the price he took was Tsunas most precious treasure, his memories of us, and that even if we manage to become friends again it won't be the same!"_

"…_I'm surprised you called him Tsuna, tako-head."_

"…_I can't call him Tenth; Xanxus is going to take over now that Kawahira took the rings…"_

"_I'm more surprised that you care at all. Does it matter if we won't have all the same experiences together? It's still Tsuna."_

"Do you seriously think I care about that! _Of course it's still Juu-Tsuna! I know we could probably be friends and remake all his good memories, but look at how he reacted when he saw us, he took one look and began hyperventilating…can you guys seriously put him through so much pain just to make him our friend again?"_

"…_Gokudera—"_

"_No listen to me, you don't know how much I want to go to his room and hug him and never let anything bad happen to him and make sure he never does something stupid like give up his most precious treasure just because of the god dammed stupid trinisette. And I'm going to do the last two but if I go into his room and hug him he'll probably have a panic attack…I _can't, _I just _can't do that to him_. I can't force him to go through so much fright just because we want—…I promised to protect him, and I'll protect him even from this."_

"…"

"_You kids…you aren't going to ever go near him now are you."_

"…_You heard Gokudera, our presence causes Tsuna to hurt. We're his guardians, aren't we supposed to protect him from that?"_

"_Fine, though if you guys are his most precious memories wouldn't you want to remake them?...You know what? Never mind, I know that look, you won't allow yourselves the chance if it means to cause him pain. *sigh* There's a chance that he will stop associating those triggers with you, you know. Since normal treatments to treat amnesia won't work on him I suggest waiting for that dissociation to happen before approaching him, that way he won't freak out. I'm his primary doctor so I'll keep a record and tell you when it happens, in the meantime maybe appear to him from a distance —well, after he's cleared that is."_

"…_We really are going to do this, aren't we?"_

"_It's for Tsuna. Of course we are."_

* * *

><p>Other author Notes:<p>

I fail at drama. I tried to make it so that at first Tsuna felt kind-of lonely but not that much so he goes around the flower shop with a smile and a spring in his step even if his closest friends were plants (whom he talked to because he was lonely, he just didn't realize it). Later he starts feeling more and more lonely and as that happens he gathers more 'friends' (flowers in the color of the flames) trying to make the loneliness away. It didn't really work that much. The end shows that point when the loneliness becomes too much and not even is plants can make it go away. I'm pretty sure I failed that but meh.

Also I totally fail the last explanation/conversation but I'm no psychologist so this is all based on my make-believe world. all in all the story isn't very good bu for a first attempt it's...decent enough..._I failed so bad_.

Also in case people didn't read the disclaimer, the original idea for this is from Kyogre on and this story was made with his/her approval. Though, I think that I didn't do the idea justice.

Taken from Hanakotoba, the Japanese flower language.

Anemone (Ryohei): Sincere (kind of, the sincere one is when the anemone is white but…)

Pansy (Chrome): Thoughtful/ caring.

Erica (Hibari): Solitude.

Freesia (Lambo): Childish/ immature (they don't come in green but I don't care, it's in another world so who knows, maybe there are green freesias there)

Hydrangea (Mukuro): Pride

Jasmine (Yamamoto): Friendly/Graceful.

Zinnia (Gokudera): Loyalty


	2. The Strongest Thoughts

_I do not own KHR._

Snippet 1 (Reborn)

They didn't know what had happened at first. The Inheritance Ceremony had finished and everything was fine for a year. Everyone went to school, hanged out, and Tsuna went through even more training (much to his despair) now that his place as Decimo was assured.

Then came the Arcobanelo Trials, and Tsuna. Sweet, kind, naïve idiot Tsuna, cried out for them; yelled out to Checker Face in anger. Why did they have to die? Wasn't there any other way?

Nobody was sure what deal they struck up. What kind of agreement they came to and Checker Face, who was apparently Kawahira, wasn't very forthcoming.

What they did know was that Tsuna was admitted to the hospital, unconscious but with no other visible injuries. And that when he woke up two weeks later —one week after Kawahira came and said that the curse on the Arcobanelo had been broken and took back all the Vongola rings (which still had everyone in an uproar)—he had panicked over his surroundings, needed to be calmed down, apparently had no idea what happened to him, and when the nurse in the room called the head doctor, Tsuna took one look at Shamal after the doctor berated Tsuna for worrying them all and making him treat him and asked, "Umm…Do I—do I know you?"

The panic that had caused was completely justified. Thinking back on it, that was the worst possible moment for his guardians to barge in, and contrary to first thoughts maybe Tsuna's panic attack didn't have so much to do with subconscious triggers and instead had more to do with the fact that he just woke up in a hospital with no memories of how he got there, a strange doctor panicking over his lack of recognition, and then several very loud and weird teenagers burst in through the door, who then began shouting and crowding around Tsuna.

Yes, all the panic that everyone felt was completely justified. What wasn't justified, Reborn thought grimly, was the fact that all of Tsuna's guardians (even Hibari and Mukuro for coffee's sake!) were now too afraid of causing Tsuna another panic attack to approach him.

Even after Shamal (now that he wasn't alarmed and could think clearly) assured them that what had triggered the flashbacks had been the shouting and not their appearance they didn't approach Tsuna—too afraid that the flashbacks and panic _had_ been at their appearance to even try.

Weren't the kids Reborn picked as Tsuna's guardians more courageous than this? It had already been five months since the "accident" as they called it, and they only kept to the edges, coming in and out only when Tsuna couldn't see them and badgering Shamal for status reports.

He could understand them, he really could. If a guardian felt that something was harming his or her sky, his/her first thought would be to remove that thing. In this case, since the thing they thought was hurting their sky was the guardians themselves…well, they would keep as far away as possible while still keeping a protective eye. A bit like how the cloud acted naturally only worse, because now Tsuna didn't have his guardians near him. It would hurt him, even if he didn't know why, but did they listen to reason_? Of course not._

Things like this made him happy he was unattached to a sky (Tsuna almost managed but—). Imagine him, The World's Greatest Hit man, acting like a shy, love-struck kid with stalker tendencies who was too scared to approach his crush. As if.

He looked at the people he was following and jumped down from is perch on the roof now that Tsuna and Nana were moving again. Well if one— not exactly positive side effect but better than the rest— interesting thing had happened from this it was the discovery of where Tsuna's protective tendencies came from. Who knew that such a petit woman had such a vicious side to her? Suddenly Tsuna's deceptive strength made a lot more sense.

Though he really didn't want to know where she got the ideas for her threats from. There were something's that he was better off not contemplating. Where Nana got her ideas for disembowelment via spoon was one of them. Bianchi had her money placed on Thanksgiving feasts while Coronello thought she might have overheard Iemitsu talking torture oneday.

The Ex-Arcobanelo (something neither he nor the others would _ever_ be able to repay Tsuna for) walked just far enough that neither Sawada would notice him, though Tsuna kept glancing behind him every now and then. Reborn was proud. That was his student. Not even forgetting everything he learned before would keep his skills down.

Reborn ignored that he was doing something similar to what he criticized Tsuna's guardians of doing before. He had done this many times before the accident, and Tsuna was still his Student in his mind.

As he shadowed the Sawada's he resolutely ignored that without the Vongola Rings in question Xanxus had taken over and his contract had been terminated four months ago, meaning that Tsuna wasn't really in his jurisdiction anymore.

Tsuna was his student, even if nobody else saw it that way.

* * *

><p>Authors Note:<p>

First things first, thank you to all of those who favorited, reviewed, and/or follow this story! I'm really glad you liked it.

The first chapter was actually supposed to be a one-shot. But then the plunnies started breeding and now I have several drabbles in this universe planned out. This is the first one which is set 5 months after the accident and gives a bit of insight into Reborn's thoughts. I sure hope I got his characterization correctly.

Also, remember the conversation between Tsuna and Shamal where Tsuna tells Shamal all about how people kept sending funeral arrangements (read: death threats) to others who (much to Tsuna's confusion) weren't planning a funeral and were still alive?

I have a drabble that explains what happened in that mess but I'm not sure whether to do it from Tsuna's POV or from the assassin that gets the death threat's POV, or if I should write the drabble with Tsuna's POV and then one with the assassins POV (both would be about the same things but the second would explain things much better than from Tsuna's limited point of view) and post them together. Any thoughts?


	3. Flower Funerals (Tsuna's POV)

_I do not own KHR_

Snippet 2 (Flower Funerals; Tsuna's POV)

Tsuna walked out of the bathroom attached to his store and while patting his jeans to get all the water off his hands, he caught sight of two men waiting in front of the counter. Both had turned around as soon as he left the bathroom and were staring at him intensely. Strange, but common.

"Welcome to Millefiore Flower Shop. How may I help you?" Tsuna asked while walking around the counter, cheeks coloring at having customers come in while the store was unattended—maybe he needed to hire some help? Usually customers didn't come in at this hour since it was so close to lunch, but the store _had_ been doing well lately…

"We'd like you to prepare funeral arrangements," said the shorter of the two men, who was dressed in a fur-trimmed black and yellow coat with a gigantic hat that looked like…a toad? The other one at least looked more normal, being bald and wearing a neatly pressed black suit. Not something you'd see outside of a metropolis but at least relatively sane.

"Funeral arrangements? I'm sorry for your loss, what would you like…" Tsuna and the two men discussed all the details; though mostly it was just the bald man who talked while the man with the big hat looked at the flowers with a bland look on his face.

They left 30 minutes later after giving him an address to which deliver the flowers to. The man with the big hat ended up buying several extra flowers while muttering about how a "sempai" of his was going to like the flowers because he was so girly and how he hopped his hat wasn't stabbed again and that nee-san didn't feel sad he didn't take flowers for _him_. That man was definitely weird.

Three days later he drove across town to the address, a nondescript house, and knocked on the door.

"_What?_" demanded an irritated blonde haired woman with a light accent—German if he wasn't mistaken.

"Hello, I'm from Millefiore Flower Shop. Two men came to my shop on Tuesday and asked for me to deliver funeral arrangements to this address."

"What?!"

"Ah…is the address wrong? Here I have it on this paper," Tsuna said and handed the paper on which the address was written on to the woman. She rapidly scanned the paper and then turned to stare at the flowers intensely. Then her eyes widened and she unexpectedly became pale.

"_Ma'am are you alright?"_

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, where did you say you were from again?" she asked (read: demanded) him with narrowed eyes. Wary now, he hesitantly repeated the shop name. She hummed and asked where she needed to sign before taking the funeral arrangement and shutting the door.

Left off-balance Tsuna stared at the closed-door before shaking his head and walking back to his car. That had certainly been weird.

* * *

><p>The woman from the apartment he had gone to yesterday had just entered his store. She walked purposely over to the counter and gave a saccharine smile.<p>

"Hello, this is Millefiore Flower Shop right?"

"Yes it is, how may I help you?"

The woman's smile widened and gained a dangerous edge. "I want to arrange funeral arrangements."

This was giving him a sense of Deja-vu, "Oh, I see; what would you like…" As they talked Tsuna wondered if he was again going to deliver flowers to people who are still alive and clearly not planning a funeral. Well either way it would be an interesting story to tell his doctor at next week's meeting.

* * *

><p>Tsuna drove up to an apartment building and took the funeral arrangement up to the second floor. When he knocked, a woman with light brown hair and glasses opened the door and stared at him in shock.<p>

"Hello," he said after a silence filled pause, "I'm from Millefiore Flower Shop. A woman came to my shop last

Friday and asked me to deliver funeral arrangements to this address."

The woman snapped out of her shock and frowned.

"Was the woman blonde?"

"Oh yes, Do you know her…?

"We're friends," she said firmly in a way that made Tsuna not believe her at all, "where do I need to sing for these?"

10 minutes later he walked out the building feeling even more confused. Why did people keep buying funeral arrangements and sending them to others who are a) Not planning a funeral and b) Still completely alive. Maybe they really were friends and were just playing a prank on each other?

Tsuna absently looked at the time and abruptly ran to his car. Merde! He was about to be late for his appointment with Doctor Shamal!

* * *

><p>As the door closed behind the same bald man who had come in a week ago, said man walked over to the counter and said, "Hello again, I'd like to order a funeral arrangement."<p>

Tsuna was starting to see a pattern. He didn't mention this thought out loud and asked instead, "All right, how would you like it?"

Later he wasn't all that surprised when he was given the address of the blond woman again. What did surprise him was the letter that the man asked him to pass along as well.

Tsuna looked at the slim envelope, sealed shut with one of the weirdest emblems he had ever seen (was that a _bullet?_), wondering what was inside but, in the end, it wasn't his business.

* * *

><p>Four days later he was once again standing in front of the first house. When the woman opened the door she blinked at seeing him there —shifting from foot to foot and holding funeral flowers— and pursed her lips.<p>

"I take it someone asked you to deliver flowers to me again, didn't they?" she said before he could talk.

"Yes, could you sign here to confirm the delivery?" he asked and while she signed her name he took out the envelope and handed it to her when he received the signed papers. "They also asked me to deliver this with the flowers."

She looked at the envelope with wary eyes as if though expecting it to explode, became so pale at the sight of the seal that Tsuna thought she was going to faint, and reluctantly opened it while absentmindedly beginning to close the door.

Tsuna looked at her and the letter in her hand before walking away feeling very confused and rather unsettled. This whole situation—as strange as it was—was probably a prank; who else would write—from the little he managed to see of the letter—something as weird as: "Roses are red, Violets are blue. Flowers have short life spans, and soon you will too." If not for a prank?

* * *

><p>Author Note:<p>

I decided to post both POV's. The first one is from Tsuna's POV and doesn't really explain well what happened since he doesn't have all the information. The next chapter, the one from the woman's point of view, will be the one that actually explains what happens and all the power plays that Tsuna completely overlooked. Now I just got to write it. Come to me inspiration, _come to me!_

Also if someone from Germany or who speaks German is (for some reason, don't know why you'd be insulted, but people are_ weird_) insulted by the fact that her accent makes her (the 'bad guy' only not really, it'll be explained in the next chapter) German, please don't be. Germany is awesome and even if the exact pronunciation of most of the words in German gives me a headache (I'm trying to learn it right now…) it's also awesome so please don't be insulted.

Oh, almost forgot, _merde_ means _shit_ in French. Shit in Italian would be _merda_ and in Spanish: _mierda_. Common origins are awesome.


	4. Flower Funerals (Irine's POV)

_I do not own KHR._

Snippet 3 (Flower Funerals; Irine's POV)

Irine Gerst was not having a good day. Scratch that, she wasn't having a good _week_. In fact, her week had been utterly and completely awful.

So awful, that the only thing stopping her from taking out her gun and putting several holes in her ceiling and walls was the fact that she was supposed to lie low for now. That meant no bringing the police (or roof) down on her head.

Not to mention that this was the closest safe house she had for several towns. If she needed to escape quickly, chances were that she wouldn't reach another safe house fast enough and would end up dead.

Irine liked her life, so she wasn't about to lose her temper (and therefore her life) like some green-behind the ears rookie. She was part of the mafia; a calm, beautiful creature of the dark and she wasn't going to let a stupid little set back change that, _damn it_. So she instead settled for pacing around the kitchen table like an agitated cat.

Still, even if she wasn't going to lose her temper it didn't change the fact that this situation was very, _very_ bad. It wasn't supposed to be bad; she had been hired by a business leader who wanted a rival to disappear but murder wouldn't benefit him as much as say, a scandal, so he hired her to seduce the corporate CEO of the rival company at a party and get as much blackmail material as possible. Easy.

Only that 'stupid little setback' ended up with her being chased across several cities after several Mafiosi decided to crash the party and slaughtered all of the guests and planners, including her target.

The only thing that let her get away was the fact that she had trained herself to get out of bad situations as quickly as possible after the incident of '99.

She was lucky that she did manage to escape, because while she could seduce just about anything on two legs (if she did say so herself), she had never been trained in combat and the only weapon she knew how to use that would serve her in a fight (because what good did knowing how to kill people with a napkin do in a fight to the death where her opponent would just destroy the napkin before she got a chance to use it?) was her gun, which honestly, she wasn't that good with—loathe as she was to admit it.

So she got away from the worst of the danger and the situation went from bad to worse, because the other Mafioso's weren't planning on leaving anyone alive, and that sadly included her. She fled as fast as she could to her nearest safe house hoping that she managed to lose the other assassins. But in real life wishes never came true so they were most likely still on her trail.

Now she was stuck in a small town named Nanimori which was ruled by the unknown leader of a vigilante group whose members wore their hair in pompadours. She didn't remember the Disciplinary Committee existing the last time she came here but it _had_ been several years.

The situation _could _be worse; she could be dead in a ditch for example, but by no means was it good. And with no way to identify her pursuers and know when they stopped chasing her she would have to stay in this tiny town for _at least _a month. She would go crazy from anxiety!

A _Ding!_ broke through her thoughts and Irine automatically froze her body before realizing that it was only the doorbell. She almost growled as she stomped to the door. While she was grateful for the distraction, that didn't mean she _wanted _to be interrupted.

She checked the peephole (anyone who didn't in this industry was either an arrogant idiot, a strong idiot, or a dead idiot) and yanked the door open when she saw a young man (kid really, he couldn't be older than 20 at most) holding flowers. _She didn't have the time for someone to ask her on a date!_

"_What?"_ she growled at the kid. He blanched at her obvious disapproval of his presence before giving her a weak smile. He was determined; she would give him that, if he was still going to ask an irate woman on a date.

"Hello, I'm from Millefiore Flower Shop. Two men came to my shop on Tuesday and asked for me to deliver funeral arrangements to this address."

A flower shop delivery guy…Oh. She must be getting more worn out from her worry than she thought if she managed to mix up her observation of him that badly. Then the last part of his message registered.

"What?!"

"Ah…" the kid fumbled for a moment and reached into a pocket, pulling out a piece of folded paper and handing it to her, "is the address wrong? Here I have it on this paper."

She read the paper and her thoughts went into overdrive. That was her address all right, but why would someone send her funeral flow—oh shit. _ShitshitshitshitSHIT!_ Funeral flowers— a death threat; someone sent her a death threat and the only people she knew who would have both the incentive and knowledge of where she was were her pursuers.

"_Ma'am are you alright?"_ The delivery man exclaimed, looking at her anxiously—her thoughts must have caused her face to pale. Then, her eyes narrowed at him.

While there _was_ a reason the saying 'don't shoot the messenger' existed —most people were too arrogant or afraid of the bad reactions a death threat could cause the receiver— some Mafioso were known to deliver the death threat themselves to observe the targets home environment—and maybe plant a spy camera in the process.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, where did you say you were from again?"

"Umm, Millefiore Flower Shop." Millefiore: A thousand flowers. No connections that she knew of to the Mafia unless you included the fact that the shops' name was in Italian. That didn't tell her much except that the owner most likely knew Italian.

Either way, she would have to investigate it. To see if it existed in the first place, to see if the kid actually worked there, to see if he was the one who sent her the death threat, and, if all the previous questions revealed that it really _was_ only a flower shop with no connection to the mafia—then to find out who _did_ send the flowers; he mentioned two men didn't he?

But first, she needed him gone from her house. "Where do I need to sign for these?"

After signing and being handed the flower arrangement (it probably wasn't poisoned since he wasn't wearing gloves) she closed the door, went inside, and dropped the flowers on the kitchen table before taking out her laptop.

Opening her search engine she typed in "Millefiore Flower Shop + Nanimori." There, that would be a good place to start from.

* * *

><p>Irine looked down at her computer from where she was hacking the street camera. The image shown —the two men that Tsunayoshi (the delivery guy) had mentioned getting off their car and walking into the store— was frozen in place with the license plate firmly in view. Irine took out a note pad and jotted down the number.<p>

It had been pathetically easy finding this place. Her search on the internet revealed a webpage for this shop, complete with work hours, the prices of the flowers and how many were available, phone numbers, and the address.

So far it seemed that it was really just another flower shop, but appearances could be deceiving and she didn't have that much time, she_ needed_ to make sure that the delivery guy wasn't after her because if he was and she just dismissed him she would end up as dead as a pig set for the slaughter-house.

So she called the number on the webpage to check if it was legitimate and when the kid answered, she used the old 'wrong number' routine to avoid any suspicion. Then, she used a valuable tidbit of information that she remembered. The kid had a name tag that said 'Sawada' (there was something that tugged at her mind when she heard that name. Sawada…Sawada _what?)_ pinned to his shirt.

It took a 30 minute drive to Nanimori's only hospital, 10 minutes to find the files of all Sawada's and all of 2 minutes to go through the three people currently alive with that surname before she was satisfied that the kid wasn't one of her pursuers and really did just own a flower shop (either that or she was unlucky enough to walk right into the proverbial lion's den).

Iemitsu Sawada (something tugged at her memories when she saw that name) hadn't been to the hospital since his son's birth and was too old, Nana Sawada was a woman and therefore not the kid (because for all that Sawada had soft features, he was clearly male), and the last one, Tsunayoshi Sawada, fit the bill to a T.

Aged 19, he'd been an occasionally frequent visitor to the hospital as a child—going by the injuries he had a problem with bullies. He was caught in an unspecified accident 4 years ago, around a month before he turned 16, that took most of his memories from age 13 to the day of the accident.

A concrete history. But she was incredibly paranoid right now and it _had_ been a week since she arrived. A skilled enough hacker could fake files in that time and she wasn't that good with the illegal side of electronics to tell the difference unless it was slightly obvious.

Which was why she had gone to the address of the flower shop exactly 10 minutes after it closes and after the owner (the Tsunayoshi kid apparently) left. It existed, which made her rapidly shrinking theory that Tsunayoshi was the one behind the death threat shrink even further.

And now she was hacking the street cameras. The video showed him coming in every day—even before she had come to Nanimori this week. That was the last straw that was needed to completely dissuade her of any association he might have to the mafia.

So she went on to her second goal of the evening: getting the license plate or at least (if they didn't come in a car or arrived in a taxi) the appearance of the two men that Tsunayoshi mentioned ordering the flowers. And now she had all that she came for.

…It was so easy her paranoid brain was checking the information for traps. It hadn't even been one day! And now she (_who wasn't even primarily trained in Recon_!) had all she needed to track down her pursuers!

Maybe they weren't professionals and just had lots of fire power? That was probably it. She would still check out where that car (and the people in it) was now, but most of the tension bled from her shoulders. She almost got killed by rookies! If she wasn't busy containing a relieved laugh she would be crying in shame.

(Still, there something familiar about the one with the odd hat; something about mist users? Meh, she'd figure it out later.)

* * *

><p>Walking out of the hotel, Irine felt like she was on top of the world—or at least like she wanted to grin—which she did.<p>

Tracking where her pursuers had been staying had been very simple—which only made her believe that they were rookies even more; they hadn't covered their tracks _at all_. It helped that the car had only gone to one other place (the airport; where the man with the large hat had exited) before coming to the hotel.

With the location of where they were staying in hand, all it took was a small use of her seduction prowess on the receptionist before she had their room number and reason for coming to Nanimori (Two friends from work on vacation who decided to split the pay of one room in half to save money; it was one of the simplest yet efficient excuses she had heard).

And now she was standing directly in her enemy's territory, as close to victory as she could be without directly murdering her opponents. But that would be counter-productive to her health since they had some time to scope out this place, not to mention their superior fighting skills.

No, she would need to do something to make them believe that she could take them out at any time—make them feel the terror that she felt when she realized the flowers were a death threat. She smirked. What better way to bluff than to throw their own tactics in their face?

A silent message that said "I know who you are and where you live" like all good death threats, with a side of "See? It only took me a day to track you down, how long do you think it'll take me to kill you?"

Still smirking, she hailed a cab.

"Where to?" asked the driver with a glance behind him.

Her smirk widened. "To Millefiore Flower Shop please."

* * *

><p>A <em>Ding <em>made her look up from where she was chopping vegetables for lunch. She blinked and set down the kitchen knife before walking to the door and looking through the peephole. It was the kid from the flower shop again…This wasn't a good development.

"I take it someone asked you to deliver flowers to me again, didn't they?" she asked him, noticing the funeral flowers that he had with him. Had the others not gotten her message? No, this was a counter death threat; or rather a counter, counter death threat.

"Yes, could you sign here to confirm the delivery?"

She took the paper and pen from him and signed her name. Then he handed her an envelope while he took the signed papers. "They also asked me to deliver this with the flowers."

She turned it around so the top was facing her and almost choked on the sharp breath that she drew in. That seal…It was the Vongola Famiglia emblem. Why would Vongola…_the death threats_. But, no, that was _impossible_. There was no way that those rookies had been from Vongola; but, then again, hadn't one of the Varia's members been said to wear a large hat that looked like a frog—exactly like the hat that one man wore.

Slowly—as if though by delaying this would all turn out to be a horrible, awful joke—she opened the envelope, took out the letter, and began closing the door. Distantly she was aware that the kid had just gone back to his car and was now driving away but most of her attention was firmly on the words in front of her.

"Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

Flowers have short life spans,

And soon you will too.

Irine Mirjam Gerst, if you do not leave Japan by September 17 you will be killed.

Signed,

Vongola Decimo, Xanxus Vongola"

It was simple and easy to understand—and got the message across in an incredibly efficient manner if her shaking hand was anything to go by. Then she noticed writing underneath the Decimo's (_Vongola,_ she's just been sent a death threat by _Vongola_) signature.

"P.S.: I do not appreciate you stalking my subordinates on their vacation. Do so again and they have full authorization to kill you on sight.

Signed,

CEDEF leader, Iemitsu Sawada"

Aw shit. That mean that the two people saying at the hotel were CEDEF operatives (a small, tiny part of her brain noted that they really _were _two co-workers on vacation). Not to mention the name signed. Iemitsu Sawada, father of Tsunayoshi Sawada, otherwise known as the kid who had delivered all her death threats. She had been played by him right from the start and never noticed.

Either way, she needed to get out of Nanimori (and Japan) _now_. She only had one more day before her deadline was up and she had no intentions of waiting for the last-minute. Vongola wasn't known for giving people death threats; simply preferring to kill all opposition. She didn't know why she was given a choice in the matter, but kicking gift horses in the mouth was one of the worst habits one could have —and that was one habit she wasn't about to begin practicing anytime soon.

Screw lunch, she needed to look up the next flight to anywhere that _was not here_.

* * *

><p>"—she's leaving right now….Yes boss...I don't think that happe—…. Alright boss. Goodbye."<p>

Oregano looked up from her report to glance at Turmeric.

"So how is everything over there?"

Turmeric sighed and a small, amused smile rose to his lips.

"Boss spent 10 minutes on the verge of coming to Japan to make sure 'that foul woman' hadn't tainted his Tuna-fishes purity."

Oregano laughed and went back to writing the report.

"I see that everything's alright now."

* * *

><p>Author Note:<p>

This is the POV of the 'enemy' assassin. I hope it managed to explain what happened in the last chapter, if not, please tell me and I'll try to fix it. Oh, and the reason that the shop name didn't make her think "MAFIA" is because the Millefiore (from what i know) only formed in the alternate future.

I also sincerely hope I didn't make her a Mary Sue. If I did, please, PLEASE tell me and I'll try to change her. That's like, the worst possible outcome.

Also, this probably is the last of the daily chapters. I've now run out of brain juice for the story (even though I have a couple more ideas in mind).

On a side note, many people, including me (trust me!), want for Tsuna to become friends again with all of his guardians. I'm not planning for it to go in that direction atm (no inspiration), though I _do_ have one idea along that line but it's with Hibari which really, _Hibari_, nothing more needs to be said for it to be understood that it won't be very fluffy (kind of).

Back to the main point, if I do decide to write those (actually I only have one) snippets, it won't be for some time (at least a couple of days) since, like I said, no inspiration right now.


End file.
